Vallejo woman sets fire to rid alley of beehive

A Vallejo woman was taken for a mental evaluation Thursday after she tried to eradicate a beehive by setting a power pole on fire, a Vallejo Fire Department spokesman said.

The 68-year-old woman, who lives about a block away from the 700 block of Ford Alley where the pole is, used lighter fluid to set the pole ablaze in the 7:15 p.m. incident, a firefighter on the scene said.

"There were a lot of bees around," the firefighter said, adding that despite this, no one was stung. "It took no time to put the fire out."

Lt. John Whitney of the Vallejo Police Department said it wasn't easy to find an officer to take the woman into custody.

"She thought they were killer bees," he said. "The officers didn't even stop. The bees were everywhere."